Rodriguez Family Events

Thanksgiving has come and gone. We had family and a few friends over. Mom started baking on the day before Thanksgiving and completed three pecan pies, two cheesecakes, a pineapple upside down cake and a new orange cake. Mom also prepared two seafood salads and her requisite baked sweet potatoes with syrup. Tony came over Wednesday to prepare the turkey and my niece and nephew came over Wednesday night. The Thanksgiving meal also included meatballs, rice and beans, potato salad, deviled eggs and baked macaroni and cheese. On Thanksgiving day, the kitties took refuge from the family gathering in my room. Daisy and Chris actually shared the same bed for most of the day. In the afternoon, Chris got up to inspect my Garfield clock. She seemed fascinated by the second hand as it moved around the dial. The family managed to make a good dent in the turkey day offerings. And, by Saturday, everything was gone. Overall, Thanksgiving was very good this year.

Here are some pictures of the kitties. Chris, for the first time, settles into the enclosed portion of her kitty condo. Meanwhile, Daisy, not for the first time, settles into the recliner for an all day snooze. I got a picture of Daisy getting some morning sun. Then, there's Daisy and Chris sharing the recliner. More than likely, Chris was on the recliner first and Daisy came second. Lastly, we discovered that our neighbors have a rabbit who likes to much on our grass. Wild rabbits are somewhat scarce in the city, so, I knew this had to be a domestic bunny. We do, however, have plenty of possums and raccoons. Later, our neighbors admitted that it was their bunny. As near as we can tell, Chris does not like to be in enclosed spaces, so, it is very unusual to see Chris using the enclosed part of her kitty condo. That's not to suggest that Chris will let Daisy use the enclosed part of Chris' kitty condo. Chris is very possessive and will not let Daisy anywhere near her kitty c...

Recently, I got picked for jury duty. I'm one of the few people that actually likes jury duty, so, I was a very happy guy. Normally, I sit around for a while, I get selected for a panel and after the judge and lawyers start asking questions, I usually get excused. Every once in a while, the planets and stars align just right and I end up on an actual jury. On the rare occasion that I make it onto a jury, something usually happens to prevent the jury from actually reaching deliberations. Such as in a civil case where the parties settle. Imagine my surprise when I got on the jury and actually made it through to deliberations. I ended up on a civil case. It was a fascinating experience and I actually learned a few things. There was a noticeable difference between the styles of the two opposing lawyers in this case. The defense attorney was more corporate and had an "old school" presentation style complete with overhead projector and photocopies mounted on poster boards. The ...

With such a contentious and vicious race for the Presidency, I was looking forward to having my vote counted. Mom and I and a handful of neighbors waited in line for about 90 minutes to vote. This year, a lot of new voters swelled the voter registers and a lot of people who do not usually come out to vote, came out to vote. There where roughly four times the the usual number of voters this year. Also, I'm very much looking forward to not seeing any more political ads for a long while.